Santa Ana council votes, 6-1, to dismiss city manager

Santa Ana City Manager Paul Walters, left, and City Attorney Sonia Carvalho, right, listen as supporter Manuel Pena speaks to the Santa Ana City Council last month. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Santa Ana Councilman Sal Tinajero, left, Mayor Miguel Pulido, center, and Councilman David Benavides, right, listen as audience members step up to the microphone and praise City Manager Paul M. Walters at a special meeting Dec. 27. A Santa Ana City Council majority called the special meeting on the performance of both Walters and City Attorney Sonia Carvalho. Supporters expressed concern that the meeting was part of an effort to get rid of Walters. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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City Manager Paul Walters waves to a supporter before heading into the closed session of the Santa Ana City Council last month. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Paul Walters, Santa Ana's city manager. COURTESY PHOTO

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Several dozen people showed up at the Jan. 7 Santa Ana City Council meeting to show support for City Manager Paul Walters. A number of them told the council they feared the City Council is looking for a way to dismiss him. RON GONZALES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Santa Ana City Manager Paul Walters, left, and City Attorney Sonia Carvalho, right, listen as supporter Manuel Pena speaks to the Santa Ana City Council last month. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – Santa Ana's elected leaders decided Tuesday night to dismiss the city manager, just seven months after his appointment.

The City Council directed city staff to work toward the release of City Manager Paul M. Walters from his contract after a lengthy closed-door session.

The vote was 6-1, with Mayor Miguel Pulido voting no.

The announcement from City Attorney Sonia R. Carvalho came after two hours of public comments, followed by a three-hour hiatus while the City Council met in closed session with Walters.

Walters, surrounded by supporters, declined to comment. As he spoke to one supporter, he said, "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

A special closed session, meanwhile, has been set for 5 p.m. Thursday in council chambers. The council, according to the agenda, will take up the “dismissal/release” of the city manager and appointment of an interim.

Walters, under the terms of his contract, "shall serve at the will and pleasure of the City Council." Replacing him won't come cheaply.

Walters' contract allows for him to return to the position of police chief, a civil service position.

If he chooses not to return, he gets severance pay of one year's base salary – $265,000 – or three years and eight months of military service added to his retirement benefits. He gets to decide which.

Either way, he gets an estimated $100,000 in unused leave. If he were to be fired for cause – for facing criminal charges or not following the council's directives – he gets nothing.

"The way I read their action," said Wendell Phillips, an attorney for Walters, "is that they're saying we've tested the waters and we have the votes necessary to release the city manager from his contract. It's a nice way of saying they're terminating him. ... Now they want to hear back from him."

Pulido said next steps in the process are uncertain.

"What I'm doing is meeting with council members and attempting how to proceed in a manner that would be least disruptive and most productive to the city," he said. "We've never done this before, and it could go in different directions."

After the vote, Walters returned to his seat in council chambers, and for now remains on the job, but for how long, Pulido said, he didn't know.

A council majority made up of David Benavides, Vincent F. Sarmiento, Sal Tinajero and Michele Martinez set a special meeting Dec. 27 with 24-hour notice to evaluate both Walters and Carvalho, and requested Tuesday's closed-door meeting.

In public comments before the closed-door session began, some residents, as well as some police officers, defended Walters, some called out for change at the top and others suggested that the council conduct a national search for a city manager while keeping Walters in the position.

Patricia Wenskunas, a business owner, asked council members why they would dismiss Walters just months after appointing him.

"Leave him to do a job that he does incredibly well," she said to applause.

Resident Albert Castillo contended that Walters should be replaced, citing calls that Walters, then police chief, made on behalf of Pulido's 2010 election.

"He is not Saint Walters," said Castillo.

Residents and business leaders had also been emailing to express their support, including Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce officials and developer Michael Harrah.

At one point in the closed session, Pulido momentarily came out into the council chamber and said that he wouldn't participate in the session. "They made a decision they want to fire Paul," he said. "I'm not going to participate because I don't agree."

In comments at the end of the meeting, some council members spoke about their views on the city manager's position.

"The only thing that is constant is change, but change for purpose is what matters," Pulido said. "I believe that we have to continue to support Paul, and I believe he has done a tremendous job."

Others, while expressing their admiration for the work Walters has done on behalf of the city, put out a call for civility, following heated exchanges that took place while residents spoke about the potential dismissal of Walters, with some threatening recall.

"I'm not going to sit here and be terrified or bullied if there's a possible recall on me," Martinez said. "All we're trying to do here is do is the right thing."

In connection with their vision of the city and its governance, the four council members who called for the session have repeatedly cited the same issue – communication between staff and the council. Staff has deferred to the mayor, they contend, when the council is made up of seven officials who are all elected citywide. Martinez has cited examples of information she requested that staff has ignored.

Council members have also expressed regret about not having conducted a national search after David Ream retired from the city manager post. Pulido, in a bid to bolster his own influence, lobbied for placing Walters in the position permanently, they contend.

Phillips said the council seemed "intent on showing the mayor they're in charge, and they are doing it by making an example of the city manager."

Walters, who had been police chief since 1988, was appointed to the interim city manager position when Ream left the city in May 2011. The council in June appointed Walters to the city manager's job and to the new position of police commissioner.

With similar language in Walters' contract, the city charter calls for a minimum two-thirds of the council, or five votes, supporting a resolution to dismiss the city manager. The vote must take place at least 30 days before dismissal becomes effective.

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